Don't run the boring bar into the chuck jaws on the end of the hole

Glad to say I have yet to smash the chuck on the carriage.
But, I have, however, dropped the 6" 4 jaw on my hand unscrewing it from the spindle... I suppose better bruise my hand than damage the ways.....
 
Don't run the boring bar into the chuck jaws on the end of the hole cause you're watching the dro and not the work...

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That reminds me of why I don't have a DRO. I always thought "Hobby Machining" was all about doing it manually, the original way, you know hands on. But I guess there will always be those who want explore new territories, like DRO's, CNC and all sorts of other tricks. One should always have, and use a carriage stop I'm thinking of designing one that will trip the feed. But too many other things to do at the moment.

BTW. I haven't had a chuck or cutter crash since I was an apprentice, but I did have a few back then. Fortunately our Toolroom Foreman was a very wise and kind person, after a crash he would discuss the reasons for the crash with us, bringing all the apprentices together for a show and tell. while the poor victim was very embarrassed he was kind and helped us to understand all the inherent dangers of all the machines we had in our shop, and they were many. I have often felt since those days that I and my fellow apprentices (all 8 of us) were very lucky in that we had a very diversified training under the eye of a great foreman and his 3 leading hands plus all the toolmakers in the shop, usually 12 to 15 of them
 
My lathe has a foot brake, and it is pretty useless like the other controls when something unexpected happens. By the time you get it stopped it has probably already bashed something pretty good. However, the foot brake is perfect when you are anticipating needing to use it. I have used it for metric internal threading tight up to a shoulder, leaving the half nuts engaged. No problem. My foot brake stops the spindle instantly if I have my foot resting on it and am mentally geared up to use it, even at higher speeds. I occasionally find it really useful.
 
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Speaking of foot brakes, I've seen some lathes (imports) that have a foot pedal connected only to a cut off switch, all it does it cut power to the spindle & does not actually have a physical brake on the spindle. I've always wonder what's the point in that setup?

My lathe does have a real foot brake, cuts spindle power & has a physical drum brake inside the spindle pulley. I love having a foot brake. But I use it only for convenience, I've never had to use it to try & prevent a crash.
 
Make a simple box , bandsaw or whatever the top, suitable for lathe and
Chuck so that the chuck only drops 3/8" or
so. Install or remove chuck safely with twenty minutes invested. ......BLJHB.
 
What I try to do beforehand to protect myself is set my boring tool max depth & then use my homebrew stop which limits any further carriage travel. Actually I have 2 of these so I can put one on the other side of the carriage like when you have to bore a recess groove within 2 limits. You don't want to drive into them under power & they don't shut anything off. I just power feed until close & then traverse in my hand until the carriage kisses the stop, then repeat.

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What I try to do beforehand to protect myself is set my boring tool max depth & then use my homebrew stop which limits any further carriage travel. Actually I have 2 of these so I can put one on the other side of the carriage like when you have to bore a recess groove within 2 limits. You don't want to drive into them under power & they don't shut anything off. I just power feed until close & then traverse in my hand until the carriage kisses the stop, then repeat.
Nice carriage stops. I need to make one for sure. I'd like to save the pictures to make some myself, but it won't let me save. Huh...
 
How are you viewing the photos? It's very easy in Tapatalk. Should be just as easy in a web browser. Tapatalk even lets me upload them directly to my Google drive where I store projects and stuff, to then be viewed later on a tablet.
 
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